Lil B: testament of the decline of western society or a very naughty boy? You decide.Is Lil B, as the New York Times claims, “a folk hero of the rap counterculture”? Is he, as Vice Magazine put it, “the most revolutionary MC of the last 15 years”? Or is he, as one YouTube commentator reckons, “a grotesque testament not only to the current state of rap music but also to the steady, inevitable decline of western society”?

If splitting an audience can be a by-product of creative risk-taking, Lil B is out there on the edge. Born Brandon McCartney, he debuted as part of teenage San Franciscan crew The Pack, who scored a 2006 US hit with their sneaker anthem Vans. But it’s as a solo artist that McCartney found his niche. Over the past 18 months, he’s marked himself out as an inexhaustible online presence, releasing a never-ending stream of songs and homemade videos, collaborating with ringtone rap merchant Soulja Boy and comedian Andy Milonakis, all the while extolling his hippyish, think-positive “Based” philosophy.

Being “Based”, for Lil B, appears to mean saying whatever’s on his mind at any given time. Indeed, hyper-prolificacy would seem to be an aim in itself. The latter half of 2010 saw him drop three mixtapes in as many months while, two weeks ago, he uploaded an archive collection that ran to a staggering 676 tracks. Quality, as you might expect, varies wildly: for every track like The World’s Ending, with genuine musings on consumerism and society, there’s a handful of deliberately moronic club bangers called things like Violate That Bitch or Ellen DeGeneres (sample lyric: “Ellen DeGeneres! Swag! Ellen DeGeneres!”). Meanwhile, his debut album proper, last year’s Rain In England, transcended familiar notions of good and bad, being one of the most peculiar rap albums ever pressed: a beatless, Beat poetry-style set where Lil B, voice a-quiver with earnestness, ponders love, beauty and all the bad things in the world over naïf new-age synth washes.

A handful of New York shows to date have pulled sell-out crowds but, right now, Lil B’s real home remains the internet, where he maintains around 100 MySpace pages, constantly retweets his 135,000 mostly female followers, and spawns memes aplenty. Fans post homemade Jpegs declaring “Thank You Based God!” or videos of themselves doing the Cooking Dance (dance like you’re whipping cream or flipping burgers). They turn up to concerts with spatulas and chef hats, and the best dancers are crowned “master chefs”. He even boasts a catchphrase, an oft-repeated and somewhat questionable line that goes “Hos on my dick cuz I look like …”, with look-alikes apparently numbering Bill Clinton, JK Rowling, Mel Gibson, Jesus and “a Frenchman”.

Lil B is far from the first rapper to toy with persona, but this slippery nature makes him an unknown quantity: will he remain a cult figure, or can he take “Based” style into the mainstream? An attempt to court Kanye West by suggesting he’d fuck the eminent rap celebrity of our generation “in the ass” if he didn’t acknowledge him on Twitter came to naught, but rumours linking him to G-Unit Records seem to have some credence, with 50 Cent and Lil B pictured together in New York earlier this month. Meanwhile, for his next album, Glass Face, B told MTV he’s working with Prince. Sounds unlikely – but then, as with everything in the realm of the Based God, you wouldn’t rule it out.

[Hook] X 2
Hopped up in my car, then I drop my roof
Wet like Wonton soup, that’s just how I do
Then I park my car, then I fuck your bitch
Eat that Wonton soup, wet like Wonton soup

[Verse 1]
Eat the cake like Annie Mae
Young Basedgod and I been doin my thang
Take my shirt off and the girls go insane
4 diamond rings, 2 big-ass chains
Eat that Wonton soup I got the cash like chang chang chang
Bitches suck my dick because I cum like 36 ways
AK-47 leave that bitch with no fuckin’ name
Got my main bitch and she stay giving me brain
Put a bitch to shame, violate that brain
Young Basedgod dope my bitch like I’m cocaine
Bitches snort my ring, that crackpipe like my chain
Found a dope man, I ride that bitch like Ace of Spades
Ho don’t play that game
I’m Rapping not for the fame
I almost went to jail for like 500 days
Bitch don’t give no fuck, that’s why I fucked her in the face
Fuck you sucker’s heads then I ask her what’s her name, Basedgod

[Hook] x 2

[Verse 2]
Suckers stay talking on them Internet comments
Mad cause I’m most wanted like Osama
Please bitch, you haters don’t got no felonies
Young Basedgod flex 10 armed robberies
Young Basedgod been breaking & entering
Young Basedgod ride hot when you bought it
30 on my dick on that court like Spalding
Bitches suck my dick because I look like JK Rowling
Harry Pot my bitch I fuck my ho her brain is awesome
Fuck my damn ring, bitch I pay what it’s costing
Jewelry is awesome, Basedgod is gorgeous
Going down to Georgia to fuck my thick bitch
Mane fuck her cuz she gorgeous, young Basedgod stay posted in the fortress
Fuck my main bitch then I dumped her in the forest
You niggas know I got money bitch one hundred thousand Basedgod nigga

[Hook] x 2

[Verse 3]
Damn I look good so I’m running for the mayor
Young Basedgod got hoes in different flavors
You know I’m fucking two and I run like Jason Taylor
Hoes on my dick cause I look like Frasier
Andy Milonakis, bitch I’m Johnny Cochran
Smooth with that chopper, I’m gone like my father
Ho suck my dick cause I took her to the opera
Bitch suck my nuts cause I wear nice watches
I’m looking like an ostrich, black like I’m Gothic
Hos suck my dick cause I laugh when they shopping
Young Basedgod gives a fuck about your problems
Label left me dead and they gave me no options
Fuck you rap niggas cause you scared of your damn self
Bitch suck my dick cause it’s good for her damn health
Young Basedgod kill a bitch with my ring
Young Basedgod got the world insane, Basedworld